Any type of civic action directed at solving our nation’s problems must understand the system it’s operating in and trying to change. The contributors have attempted to draw attention to the deficit of analysis in our approach to "change actions" by looking at the recurrent failures of public problem solving and the advocates who populate this arena. No question we/they are on a treadmill of futility! What is being proposed here must be understood within the framework of the American electoral system, the political science of it if you will, in order for its power as a solution to be grasped. Understanding the importance of our "first tier" electoral machinery - ballot access and party nominations to stand for office - and their processes is more than essential. To gain full command on just how much power our citizenry possesses, and how much potential there is (and is lost) for a completely different path in all of this, these things must be considered. However, this knowledge is simply that; an educational component of the effort. It enables what we are suggesting here to be feasible, and meaningful, and it must be understood in those terms. Without these elements in place and immediately available, this proposal could not legitimately exist. (We’d have to be fighting for these tools – the rights - instead of just using them) Why? Because, if we exercise a vote only in general elections – as we once had to and how most of the rest of the world does - others will decide who is on the electoral ballot. At that point it’s too late to gain access and exercise influence as a derivative, mass general election vote can only reduce the status of the citizen to that of a bystander. This is because the parties, candidates etc. - the political establishment - will agree on what is important to them, not us. As a result the entire electoral process is rendered a farce. Although that is the state of things today, it is the case only because of our absence. With the coherent presence of the citizenry established, all the interactions and media the Citizens Access Network makes possible will be recognized as power. When operating within this network – upon a simple registration - user-members will be understood as super-voters; an animal so important, yet elusive, that he/she must be sought out and manipulated by our politics at great expense and in every sense. The power of that association is described very specifically and also permeates these pages throughout. But, once understood, it simply becomes part of the background as the "terms" will now be clear and understood by all the players. These are simple things and all that’s necessary for the political science to meet the people science and get us off the treadmill. With that we move beyond the typical model of phony “engagement” into the realm of indisputable political power with great proximity, access and control over our elected representatives and public policy. The fusion of network and media simply shape and channel this citizen-electoral power with care and responsibility.

Plenty and No, but...If there is any doubt remaining about the combustive, paradigm shifting power of this device — particularly now, in the age of the Internet and social networks — consider the fact that the parties themselves more covertly, or proxies within the money-media-election-complex more overtly, use ballot access/the primary vote as an ever-present threat against elected officials they can target...should they “need too”. This should tell you all you need to know. The term that's recently been coined for this phenomenon is "Primaried", but it has always existed. In an effort to reform this imbalance, the power to nominate was handed over to the people with the hope that the power of ballot access could no longer be used to control elected officials and that allegiances would shift from the bosses and machines to the voting public. However, since the people have not used this responsibility very well or wisely a different type of machine developed; one that still very effectively controls ballot access. This allows our current party system to quietly/covertly threaten an incumbent elected official with competition - or withdrawal of support - for the party nomination if for whatever reason there is unhappiness with that individual; (they are not a good fundraiser, they make too much trouble etc. etc.) hence they are subject to being primaried from within. More publicly, we can also see the vacuum our absence creates used by proxy groups that can threaten and control our electoral sphere with this power from without: For the moment inactive there was; primaryyourcongressman.com (Club for growth-Grover Norquist’s group) Then there was the "reaction"; Super PAC, Defending Main Street; (To "Primary" back the Primarieder??) UGH! And also based on the principle of targeting "undesirables" there is this group. Unfortunately all of these efforts are punitive and in no way attempts to build around this most powerful device the means to involve our people, to work holistically, at all levels of government and to bring our system into representative balance. It should however demonstrate the power and opportunity that has not only been left to rot, but to be used as a more effective and destructive form of control than any other that came before it; an excellent example of what havoc absentee management will wreak. This organization, that also featured former U.S. Senator Olympia Snow, made a lot of noise about the importance of the primaries and how – for the greater good - they were going to get “grass roots” on it (with the misdiagnosis of low-turnout their focus). We haven’t heard much since then. Perhaps we’ve missed it. The research conducted here highlights many luminaries acknowledging how important, misunderstood and underutilized our nominating process is. What they mostly neglect that cannot be neglected is the role that a unrestrained media plays in these dysfunctions and how all the negative dynamics are enabled by what lacks; namely a civic roof under which the citizenry can operate. For a more scholarly review, this excellent piece of political science really hits the nail on the head. All of this should answer any questions as to the importance, and misuse, of the precious and hard won tools of our modern republic. It should also tell us that no one is going to do anything with or about this. UNLESS IT’S US!